WebEOC® in Daily Command Post Operations in an Integrated ... · of the SIRP initiative is an automated Wing Operations Center (WOC) combining both daily operational capabilities

WebEOC® in Daily Command Post

Operations in an

Integrated Information

Environment at the

USAF 45th Space Wing

Robert D. Price Modus Operandi, Inc.

122 Fourth Avenue Indialantic, FL 32903

www.modusoperandi.com

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Table of Contents

1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 3

2 The Knowledge Management Framework................................................... 5

3 SCCS and WebEOC .............................................................................................. 8

3.1 Incident Management................................................................................. 9

3.2 Modifications to WebEOC ........................................................................ 10

3.2.1 Checklists .............................................................................................. 10

3.2.2 Branding................................................................................................. 14

3.2.3 Connection to the KMF / Wave ..................................................... 14

3.2.4 Mobile Capabilities ............................................................................. 17

3.2.5 Airfield Operations ............................................................................. 18

3.2.6 Hurricane Operations........................................................................ 20

4 Looking Ahead ..................................................................................................... 20

5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 21

Abstract

WebEOC® was developed specifically for use in emergency operations

centers. Modus Operandi, Inc. selected WebEOC® for a project with the US

Air Force 45th

Space Wing at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Patrick

Air Force Base, Florida where it now serves as the basis for command post

operations and crisis management activities on a daily basis. Deployed under

the name “Shark Command and Control System” (SCCS), the system is

based upon WebEOC and Modus Operandi’s Wave® data integration

product. This paper explores the customizations that were required to adapt

WebEOC for the command post role, suggested approaches to managing

incidents when using WebEOC on a daily basis, integration with other

applications, and advanced use of Active Server Pages. Special emphasis is

placed upon the integration of WebEOC into Modus Operandi’s Wave

product, which is serving as the Knowledge Management Framework

(KMF) at the 45th

Space Wing. The KMF federates data from a variety of

structured (e.g. RDBMS) and unstructured (e.g. Word documents) sources

into a semantic framework that supports queries, searches, and viewing of

the data. Through the KMF, SCCS and other applications are able to access

data stored in distributed, disparate data sources throughout the Space Wing.

Finally, the use of this approach for emergency management at the state and

regional levels is explored.

1 Introduction The USAF 45

th Space Wing is responsible for operating and maintaining the Eastern

Range for launch operations. The Eastern Range includes Kennedy Space Center, Cape

Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), and Patrick Air Force Base (PAFB) as well as

instrumentation sites at Antigua Island, Ascension Island, Argentia in Newfoundland, and

Melbourne Beach, Florida. The 45th

Space Wing uses a variety of Air Force and

contractor resources to accomplish this mission. Due to the evolution of launch

operations over many years with contributions from many different organizations and

individuals there are a wide variety of data sources and little or no sharing of data among

the data sources. Data has usually been shared through Word documents, PowerPoint

presentations, and Excel spreadsheets. Collaboration among organizations and

individuals has been via email, phone calls, documents on shared drives, or face-to-face

meetings. Command operations, such as daily command post operations and battle staff

crisis management, have been performed in the same ways. Figure 1 gives some idea of

the scope of the data “silo” problem.

Figure 1: Many independent data “silos”

Several years ago, the Joint Base Operations Contractor (JBOSC), which is responsible

for performing basic operations such as security at Kennedy Space Center and CCAFS,

purchased WebEOC to serve as the software for its Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

This has proven to be successful; however the system is only brought on-line when a

hurricane condition is in effect. Moreover, despite the fact that logins were set up for

people at adjacent PAFB, during hurricane operations the EOC has not been getting

inputs from Patrick, so the 45th

Space Wing command picture is fragmented in hurricane

conditions.

The 45th

Space Wing has undertaken an initiative to provide a Single Integrated Range

Picture (SIRP) of the Eastern Range. The SIRP is intended to provide commanders,

contractors, and other authorized personnel with a unified view of the data available in

the many data source silos within the 45th

Space Wing’s area of responsibility. A key part

of the SIRP initiative is an automated Wing Operations Center (WOC) combining both

daily operational capabilities and crisis management capabilities allowing commanders to

take full advantage of the integrated view of the data. The SIRP makes data such as

launch schedules, hazardous operations schedules, resource usage, and range

instrumentation status readily available to end-users and applications without those

clients having to be aware of all the underlying data sources. At the same time, it allows

the continued use of legacy systems and data sources without modification.

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2 The Knowledge Management Framework

Major elements of the SIRP initiative have been implemented by Modus Operandi, Inc.

with funding made available through the Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR)

program. This includes the 45th

Space Wing Knowledge Management Framework

(KMF). The KMF provides a common access point into the 45th

Space Wing “data cloud”

for users and applications. Figure 2 illustrates the role of the KMF as part of the SIRP.

Figure 2: Provide an Integrated Picture of Data through the KMF

The KMF is based upon Modus Operandi’s Wave product, which leverages BEA’s

AquaLogic Data Services Platform™ and WebLogic Application Server™. Figure 3

shows an architectural view of the KMF.

KMF: Accesses Related Data

KMF: Integrates Related Data

SIRP Applications: Present Integrated Data

SIAirfield Status

Vehicle Processing Database

Weather Alerts

Schedule Database

Launch Facilities Database

KMF

Figure 3: KMF/Wave Architecture

The KMF provides ontology-driven semantic information integration. A domain model is

constructed in Web Ontology Language (OWL) format. OWL allows the user to specify

both concepts and relationships between concepts as well as various restrictions and

constraints on the relationships. This model serves as a “logical” model to which physical

data sources are then mapped using BEA’s AquaLogic Data Services Platform™. In

effect, the logical data model is populated with instance data based on the mappings to

physical data source fields. Relationships are also mapped so that instance data can be

traversed using the relationships. For example, if the model contains the concepts of

Person, Building, and Certification and the relationships “Building is-Workplace-Of

Person” and “Person has Certification”, the following query could be formulated:

1. Select all Persons for which the statement “Building 4052 is-Workplace-Of

Person” is true.

2. Of the Persons returned, select those for which the statement “Person has

Certification” is true and Certification attribute “type” equals “CPR”.

This would return all the people working in Building 4052 who have been certified in

CPR. This answer would be returned by a single query against the KMF even if the

information regarding who works in what building were stored in a database and the

certification information for each person were stored separately in an XML document.

The KMF is rendered yet more powerful by providing the capability to map multiple

independent data sources to fields in the same logical concept class and the capability to

perform transformations on data in legacy data systems into a common format embodied

in the logical model. Figure 4 illustrates these capabilities.

Figure 4: Mappings and Transformations

Additionally, Wave provides keyword search capabilities similar to Google™ by

crawling and indexing all structured (e.g. RDMS, XML) and unstructured data (e.g.

documents, RDBMS character fields) mapped to the deployed Logical Model. Wave

Search presents results as a seamless blend of hits found within structured and

unstructured data sources. Wave also supports visualization and browsing of the deployed

Logical Model and instance data that falls within each concept. Using Wave View, the

user can follow relationships among the instances and “walk” the entire data cloud.

Figure 5 illustrates both Wave View and Wave Search.

Training Database

Personnel Database

Person Table

- Name (Joseph Jones)

- Employee ID (001456)

- Date of Birth (January 10, 1957)

- Pay Grade (14)

- Address (77 7th St Melbourne, FL)

- Phone (321-555-1234)

Certification Table

- Employee ID (001456)

- CPR (June 10, 1985)

- Hazardous Material (null)

- Workplace Safety (May 2, 1995)

- EMT (null)

Logical Model

Person Class

- Last Name

- First Name

- Employee ID

- Date of Birth

- Pay Grade

- Address

- Phone

Certification Class

- type

- Name

- Employee ID

- Date

has 1

*

Transform to 06/10/1985

Type from Column Name

Separate LN and FN

Transform to 1-10-1957

Mappings and

Transformations

Figure 5: Wave View and Wave Search Capabilities

3 SCCS and WebEOC In addition to our role of deploying Wave as the 45

th Space Wing KMF, Modus Operandi

was tasked with developing the Shark Command and Control System (SCCS). As shown

in Figure 3, SCCS is one of the applications extracting data from the KMF to present a

unified picture of range operations for commanders on a daily basis and also during crisis

management situations. The requirements for SCCS specifically called for event log and

checklist capabilities as well as the ability to view geo-spatial data. Given these

requirements, a “build vs. buy” assessment was conducted early in the SCCS project.

After seeing a demonstration of the WebEOC installation at the JBOSC EOC, it became

Search data via KMF

Browse integrated

data via KMF

apparent that WebEOC might be able to provide these capabilities as well as much more.

Further investigation confirmed this and demonstrated that WebEOC could provide “out-

of-the-box” capabilities and an extensible framework for SCCS. Leverage of WebEOC

would facilitate the development and deployment of a fully operational command post in

much less time than would be the case if an attempt was made to develop the same

capabilities from “scratch”.

WebEOC was purchased and installed at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in late

October of 2005. By December 1, the Patrick Air Force Base command post began

parallel operations in which they used the SCCS capabilities but also continued to

maintain their paper-based processes. After completion of user training, delivery of

additional documentation, and the development of additional boards and capabilities, the

command post was deemed ready for operation in February of 2006. The following

sections explain the procedures and customizations that were performed to make

WebEOC satisfy the 45th

Space Wing command post requirements.

3.1 Incident Management

One of the first procedures that needed to be established was how to handle daily

operations in the context of incidents. Since WebEOC operations are centered around one

or more incidents, it was apparent that an incident had to be created and maintained to

serve as the context for daily operations. The main question to be answered was how long

such an incident should be maintained. One could create a new incident for daily

operations every day or on a weekly, monthly, or even yearly basis. After weighing

various pros and cons, it was decided that conducting daily operations on a monthly basis

was the best option. At the beginning of each month an incident is created. The incident

is named according to the month, for example, “Daily Operations – 12-2005”. At the end

of the month the incident is archived and a new incident is created. This allows monthly

operations to be archived and turned into simulations that provide sufficient data for

extensive training, but not the overwhelming volume of data that a year-long incident

would generate.

The 45th

Space Wing has a set of three standard threat conditions used for crisis

management. These conditions are Force Protection Condition, Information Condition,

and Hurricane Condition. In addition to these, an incident such as an aircraft accident, a

bomb threat, or a major non-aircraft related accident could escalate to a crisis level.

During a crisis the commander’s Battle Staff is activated and the crisis is managed from a

battle staff area. When any condition arises that requires activation of the Battle Staff, a

new incident is created to manage the crisis. There could be multiple crises to manage

simultaneously. For example, in 2004 recovery efforts from Hurricane Francis were still

underway when preparations for Hurricane Jeanne were in progress.

The command post and Battle Staff can communicate with each other through email, chat

rooms, phone, and event logs. When desired, Battle Staff events can be directed to the

command post event log as well as the Battle Staff event log. In addition, certain users

are authorized to log in to a master view that allows them to see data from all current

incidents rolled up into the master view. In this manner commanders can track both crisis

incidents and the daily command post operations. Note that all these capabilities come

“out-of-the-box” with WebEOC.

3.2 Modifications to WebEOC

A number of modifications were made to WebEOC to satisfy 45th

Space Wing

requirements. The following sections explain the changes that were made.

3.2.1 Checklists

Several changes were made to the checklist capability provided in WebEOC. The

checklists for the 45th

Space Wing are derived from Operations Plans. Some changes

were made to create a connection between the Operations Plans and the checklists. Others

were made for the convenience of the users. The changes made to checklists were:

1. The addition of a description area to allow the users to enter a description of what

the checklist is used for and when it should be used. This usually corresponds to

guidance provided in the corresponding operations plan.

2. The addition of a field to enter a URL for the checklist. In most cases the URL

would be a link to the corresponding operations plan.

3. A “Clear Checklist” option was added to clear all the checklist entries. This was

found to be necessary for daily operations since the same checklist might be used

multiple times in the course of a one month daily “incident”. Without the “Clear

Checklist” option the user was forced to manually uncheck each entry.

4. A URL field was added for each step of the checklist to allow the step to be

linked to a document or a particular section of a document.

5. A field was added to display classification information. Military organizations

require that all documents and displays carry classification information such as

“Unclassified”, “Secret”, etc.

6. A field was added to display the last revision date for the checklist. Since each

checklist must be kept in synch with its corresponding Operations Plan, this

provides a means for users to verify that the contents of the checklist are current.

7. A new option was added for showing that a checklist step is completed. This

option is a Simulation option for training purposes.

8. To improve legibility for personnel in the Battle Staff area, the size of the font

was increased relative to plasma screen resolution.

Figure 6 shows the initial administrative (admin) screen for creating a checklist.

Figure 6: Create Checklist Admin Screen

Figure 7 shows the edit checklist admin screen, again with additional fields.

Figure 7: Edit Checklist Admin Screen

Note the added Description, Classification, Last Updated, and URL fields.

Figure 8 shows the “add item” screen with the new URL field.

Figure 8: Add Item Admin Screen

Figure 9 shows an example checklist being displayed.

Figure 9: Example Checklist

3.2.2 Branding

The 45th

Space Wing wished to have the 45th

Space Wing logo displayed. They also

wanted to have the name “Shark Command and Control System” appear. The 45th

Space

Wing logo and the SCCS name were added to WebEOC for display on the dashboard and

a variety of boards developed for the 45th

Space Wing.

3.2.3 Connection to the KMF / Wave

Modus Operandi found that connecting WebEOC boards to the Knowledge Management

Framework to access federated data was straightforward. The high-level architecture is

illustrated in Figure 10 below.

Figure 10: WebEOC connection to the KMF / Wave

One instance of the integration between WebEOC and the KMF / Wave is the SCCS

board supporting daily situation reports (SITREP) for the Range Management Squadron.

This board required data from a database connected to the KMF. Using the advanced

board editor, the following code snippet was inserted into the html for the board at the

appropriate place:

<tr id="CSRdataFromKMF">

<td background="">CSR Item<br/></td><td></td>

<td background="" rowSpan="14" valign="top">

<input type="text" name="KMFDataKey" value=""

class="htckmfcombobox" QueryName="SITREPQuery"

bShowDecorator="true"></input>

</td>

</tr>

The code reflects the use of a combo box developed by Modus Operandi called

htckmfcombobox. There is also an XQuery referred to as SITREPQuery and a data key

that tells the KMF what data is required. Figure 11 below shows the board when it is first

loaded. Note that there are areas on the right where it displays that it is loading KMF

data.

Figure 11: Loading KMF data into a board

In this example the data was retrieved in about one second. Figure 12 below shows the

board with a list of items retrieved from the database.

Figure 12: Displaying data from the KMF within a board

3.2.4 Mobile Capabilities

Due to the proximity of PAFB and CCAFS to the ocean, any hurricane that affects the

immediate area may prompt an evacuation of the facilities. Depending on the severity of

the event, the evacuation may be to a facility on the mainland in nearby Malabar, or as far

away as Moody Air Force Base. To allow the 45th

Space Wing to continue to operate

SCCS, one of the redundant servers is “ruggedized” and easy to carry, thereby giving it a

mobile capability. The command post area itself is configured with its own subnet that

can continue to operate in a local mode even if the main PAFB LAN is not operational.

The server, a set of laptops, and the LAN equipment (dubbed “LAN in a can” by the

Communications Squadron) can be moved to an alternate location and set up to provide

the 45th

Space Wing with the capability to operate SCCS in an isolated mode. At a

facility such as Moody Air Force Base, SCCS could be connected into the base network

and be operated in a fully connected mode. WebEOC coupled with Double-Take™ insure

that upon return to PAFB/CCAFS, the redundant server will be re-synched to the mobile

server and normal operations will be restored.

3.2.5 Airfield Operations

While there were no customizations to WebEOC performed for the purpose of airfield

operations, this area provides an excellent example of a situation where the way people

do business was changed to be more efficient.

Patrick Air Force Base is a Prior Permission Required (PPR) airfield. Aircraft not

stationed at Patrick must request permission from Airfield Operations to land at the base.

The process of recording, approving, and updating requests and the process of

maintaining the Flight Logs detailing the actual arrivals and departures of aircraft were

performed manually. Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents were the methods for

recording information and telephones provided the communications with the command

post, tower, the protocol office, and the safety office. The safety office needs to be

notified if an inbound aircraft is carrying hazardous cargo and the protocol office must be

informed if there is a distinguished visitor aboard.

Using WebEOC’s capabilities, Modus Operandi automated Airfield Operations. Boards

were built for request logs, flight logs, frequencies, and base conditions and users at the

tower and airfield operations were given logins so that all communication could be

through board updates, events, chat, and messages. There are plans to bring the protocol

office and safety office online with WebEOC so that they can also automate their

operations and communicate easily with other organizations. This demonstrates the

adaptability of WebEOC and the ease with which it can be used to automate day-to-day

activities as well as crisis management operations. Figures 13 – 15 show some of the

boards developed for the purpose of Airfield Operations.

Figure 13: The PPR Log

Figure 14: The Flight Log

Figure 15: Airfield Status

3.2.6 Hurricane Operations

One of the advantages that the 45th

Space Wing has reaped from the use of WebEOC is

closer cooperation with the JBOSC EOC. After WebEOC was installed for command

post operations, the JBOSC personnel made all of their hurricane related boards available

through the export capability. These boards were imported into SCCS and this enabled

SCCS to be ready for hurricane operations much sooner than would otherwise be the

case. Moreover, WebEOC’s Dual Commit capability was employed to automatically post

data to the JBOSC EOC from the 45th

Space Wing’s SCCS. This means that the

command picture during hurricane conditions is no longer fragmented because it is no

longer dependent on users remembering to report data to two separate installations.

4 Looking Ahead

Wave can be used to connect multiple instances of WebEOC and other EMS data at the

city, county, state, and regional levels to provide a previously unavailable degree of real-

time emergency operations visibility. Wave’s data federation and interoperability features

allow data to be shared among different emergency management and command post

centers so that a clear picture of an entire region can be provided. Figure 16 below

illustrates the connection of multiple WebEOC systems and EMS sources via Wave.

Figure 16: Connecting multiple WebEOC systems and EMS sources via Wave

Databases

Databases

Databases Documents Documents

Documents

WebEOC Other EMS

WebEOC

Wave

Emergency management personnel at a state, regional, or large urban area level can also

benefit from the combination of WebEOC and Wave. Wave allows data to be federated

from among different emergency management and command post centers so that a clear

picture of an entire region can be provided. Working with local EOC’s, state and regional

emergency management personnel can decide what information is important to have

available at the state/regional level to form an integrated picture. On the other hand, local

EOC’s would benefit from the ability to access Wave for information that would show

them a picture of conditions in adjacent areas of responsibility. Figure 17 illustrates a

scenario in which a state or regional level EOC collects information from a variety of

local EOC’s to provide an integrated view of the state or region. When EmerGeo™ is

added to WebEOC installations at the state or regional level, or even at a local level,

emergency management personnel can use data collected via Wave to plot incidents and

events within a geo-spatial context that can vastly improve the overall picture of their

area of responsibility.

Figure 17: Regional/State Level Integration of Local EOC’s

5 Conclusion

WebEOC can be easily adapted to serve as the basis for a daily command post style of

operation, as illustrated by the Shark Command and Control System. Using WebEOC on

a daily basis maximizes the value of an organization’s investment in WebEOC and could

allow a state, county, municipality, or region to integrate daily operations with their

emergency management activities. By managing daily operations as monthly or weekly

Databases

Databases Databases

Documents

Documents Documents

WebEOC

Other EMS WebEOC

KMF

Local EOC Local EOC

Regional/State EOC

Multiple City/Local EOC’s

incidents, an organization can provide itself with an excellent archive of simulation data

for subsequent training purposes. Continuation of normal daily activities during

emergencies is supported, as WebEOC allows emergency incidents and a daily operations

incident to co-exist and inter-operate.

When WebEOC is combined with Modus Operandi’s Wave product, operational

capabilities are significantly increased. The ability to leverage integrated data stored in

WebEOC’s database, data in CAD 911 databases, fleet management systems, asset

management systems, documents, and other data sources allows WebEOC to provide

one-stop daily and emergency management.

WebEOC and the Wave product together provide a powerful solution for emergency

management and command post operations in an integrated environment.

© 2006 Modus Operandi, Inc. All rights reserved. Wave is a registered trademark of Modus Operandi. AquaLogic is a trademark of BEA Systems, Inc. WebEOC is a registered trademark of ESi. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.